It's Providence time by Alessio Ravazzani

Art by Alessio Ravazzani

Above, a fantastic Robert Black portrait from Providence by Italian comic artist and illustrator ALESSIO RAVAZZANI. Below, some gorgeous making-of material. 

 

The illustration is part of the awesome gallery of homages to Moore's work included in Pelosi's essay  Alan Moore: Mappaterra del Mago.

 

For more info about the artist, visit: Instagram - Mammaiuto

Art by Alessio Ravazzani

Promethea by Chiara Raimondi

Art by Chiara Raimondi

Above, a great Promethea by Italian comic artist and illustrator CHIARA RAIMONDI.

The image is included in Pelosi's essay book, Alan Moore: Mappaterra del Mago. 

 

For more info about the artist, visit: Instagram - Behance - Twitter

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Art by Polsino

Above, a Moore from an alternative Fantasia universe by Italian comic book artist Leonardo Lotti AKA Polsino. Thank you, Polsino, for capturing such a magic moment!

For more info about the artist visit his Instagram.

Promethea by Fábio Moon

Art by Fabio Moon

Above, a stunning Promethea commission piece by acclaimed Brazilian comic book artist Fábio Moon. More info about its making-of at Moon's Substack here and here.

The stories show us that life is grand and we, the players of our own existence, can always grow and get a more important role in the stories we live in. --- Fabio Moon

Watchmen in Strange Things Are Happening

Excerpts from an interview published in Strange Things Are Happening, vol. 1, no. 2, May/June 1988 and titled "Vincent Eno and El Csawza meet comics megastar ALAN MOORE".

Alan Moore: [...] ‘I try to approach character writing as an actor would. They’re perhaps not very formed to start with but they slowly congeal… I didn’t know Rorschach was going to die at the end of Watchmen until issue four – that was the only major detail that I hadn’t sorted out right from the beginning. As I thought about it, I realised there was no way that he would compromise, and if he wasn’t going to compromise then he was going to die! When I got into the Rorschach issue I knew a lot about the character’s surface mannerisms, but I didn’t know what was inside him until I started to dig.’

[...] ‘With Dr. Manhattan we were thinking about the implications of a nuclear superhero’, explains Alan. ‘All the nuclear superheroes that existed in comics previously have been ones who, by the great gift of radioactivity, suddenly find themselves not with leukaemia or some form of tumour, but with miraculous powers. Other than shooting bolts out of their hands willy-nilly, there were never any of the implications of nuclear science and particularly quantum science – they’re not considered. We’re now forty years post-Einstein and it’s time we tried to confront some of the things Einstein said. On a quantum level, as I understand it, reality does not work! Things can be in two places at once; they can move from point A to point B without passing through the distance that separates those points… and this is what Dr. Manhattan does. Time, in a post-Einsteinian universe, cannot be regarded in the same way: from what Einstein says, it is possible that the future and past must exist now, for what “now” means. Someone existing in a quantum universe would not see time broken up in the linear way we see it. We tried to think what it would be like to somebody to whom the theory of relativity was what he had for breakfast, more or less… if you could see that different aspect of things then it would change you. You would not be able to feel the same way about the importance of human affairs. I didn’t want to do a Mr. Spock, I didn’t want to do somebody who was just emotionless – he has got emotions of a sort he’s growing away from them. He has girlfriends; I should imagine that’s just human habit. But at the end of Watchmen he decides he’s just going to go into space, forever. Perhaps he’ll make some people, but basically he doesn’t want anything more to do with humans… in a lifespan that may span billennia he’s only gone a couple of steps. He’s growing away from humanity gradually. It’s not a cold unemotional thing, it’s just different; a different way of seeing the universe.

‘Which is part of what Watchmen is about. We tried to set up four or five radically opposing ways of seeing the world and let the readers figure it out for themselves; let them make a moral decision for once in their miserable lives! Too many writers go for that “baby bird” moralising, where your audience just sits there with their beaks open and you just cram regurgitated morals down their throat. Heroes don’t work that way anymore… although I think Frank Miller would disagree with me on that. What we wanted to do was show all of these people, warts and all. Show that even the worst of them had something going for them, and even the best of them had their flaws.’ [...]

A Small Killing by Christian Galli

Art by Christian Galli

Above, a fantastic illustration paying homage to Moore & Oscar Zarate's unsung masterpiece A Small Killing by Italian comic artist and illustrator CHRISTIAN GALLI.

Illustration included in Pelosi's essay book, Alan Moore: Mappaterra del Mago. 

 

For more info about the artist, visit his Instagram page: HERE.

N.1112: TOP5 POSTS of all time

This is the 1,112th post that I write for the blog. 

I've just found out we reached number 1,111 which is something that I like: (obviously) it's a palindrome and full of... number ones! And I suspect I'll hardly reach n. 11,111.

So, to celebrate this "milestone", here is the list of the blog's TOP5 posts, till now. 

It seems a nice recap, doesn't it?

Direct links, below. Enjoy! 

And thank you all for paying a visit here! 

N.5: Alan Moore about LSD and magic mushrooms

N.4: Moore & Coulthart and... the lost Crowley

N.3: Rorschach by Giorgio Cavazzano

N.2: Alan Moore: writing, Godzilla, Twin Peaks and... the moth in his beard

 

N.1: Moore on Jerusalem, Eternalism, Anarchy and Herbie!

Tom Scioli in 1963

Art by Tom Scioli

Above, Horus, Lord of Light (above) and Supreme with Jack of Lanterns (below). 

 

Art by the great TOM SCIOLI; characters from 1963 miniseries, one of my all-time favourite Moore's work with Steve Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch & friends!!!

 

Years ago I translated into Italian the Hypernaut story: a real masterpiece! 

If you can read Italian, it's HERE!

Art by Tom Scioli

V by Rise

Art by Rise

Above, a touching V for Vendetta homage by Italian illustrator, comic book artist and muralist RISE. The illustration is included in Francesco Pelosi's essay, Alan Moore: Mappaterra del Mago. Highly recommended!

 

For more info about RISE, visit the artist's Instagram page: HERE.

Nemo by Noah Van Sciver

Art by Noah Van Sciver

Above, a gorgeous Nemo by award-winning cartoonist and illustrator Noah Van Sciver.

The piece is a commission that Van Sciver did for HeroesCon.

For more info about the artist, visit his Instagram here.

The Killing Joke by Federica Ferraro

Art by Federica Ferraro

Above, a stunning homage to seminal story The Killing Joke by Italian illustrator and comic book artist FEDERICA FERRARO. 

Illustration included in Francesco Pelosi's essay, Alan Moore: Mappaterra del Mago. 

 

For more info about Federica Ferraro, visit her Instagram page: HERE.

Alan Moore by Marek Soszyński

Art by by Marek Soszyński

Above, an intense Alan Moore portrait by Polish artist Marek Soszyński.

"A portrait of my favourite literary wizard, Alan Moore." MS

More info about the artist, visit his Instagram HERE.

Supreme by David Bacter

Art by David Bacter

Above, a great Supreme cover from an alternative universe by Italian illustrator, painter and comic book artist DAVID BACTER. 

This homage is included in Francesco Pelosi's essay, Alan Moore: Mappaterra del Mago. 

 

For more info about David Bacter, visit his Instagram page: HERE.

AOS and Moore

AOS's self-portrait

Selected excerpts from a video available on Youtube here. It was recorded on the occasion of Austin Osman Spare: Fallen Visionary exhibition (14 Sep 2010 – 13 Nov 2010, The Cuming Museum, London). Moore is a great admirer of Austin Osman Spare's work and life.

Alan Moore: [...] Austin Spare is one of the most overlooked figures in British Art history. The obituaries that surrounded his death remarked that with his passing England had lost one of its best ever nude study artists.
When you think that we are now some 50 odd years since his death and except in knowledgeable and specialist circles he is completely unknown...

 

[...] Austin Spare decided that he was going to pretty much excommunicate the rest of the world and go and live amongst thieves, prostitutes, ordinary working people. He was taking it all in, he was absorbing it and he was turning it into images.

Not only was he an incredible artist he was also in my opinion possibly the greatest English magician of the 20th century. Although obviously not magic of the Paul Daniels' stage variety but something of, I thought, older provenance.
I think the magic offers the artist a new way of looking at their consciousness and of looking at where they get their ideas from.

[...]  if you can manipulate your own consciousness and perhaps that of others which is truly something that all artists are trying to do - whether they're magicians or not - then you will have effected an act of magic.

[closely admiring an AOS painting/drawing] This is a wonderful example of a typical Austin Osman Spare's image if there is such a thing. If you are in a magical state then if you create a piece of art while in that state it is a way back into that state.

It says [referring to the painting] "intrusive nostalgia re-remembering" which I think means the state of consciousness where suddenly memories of past lives or genetic history if you like suddenly intrude upon you without your necessarily bidding them to do so.

[...] Spare was a visionary. He was somebody like William Blake who was not distinguishing between his art and his spirituality, who felt that the world inside him was as valid and important as the world outside him.

Moore Great Comics

From The Men's Health Comic Book Omnibus article published this June:

Finding a great comic can be tough. So we asked 45 of the most legendary, visionary, and unique creators in the business to make it easier. 

I selected the Moore's entries: we have 3 votes for Watchmen, 2 votes for both From Hell and V for Vendetta. You can read the complete article HERE.

 

Gail Simone
Writer of DC's Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, and Marvel's Deadpool:

From Hell
by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
"To say this is a book about Jack The Ripper is like saying Moby Dick is about a guy who goes fishing. It’s comics wizard Alan Moore’s best, most compelling work, told from multiple points of view and containing worlds in its story of murder, corruption and class. Stunning visuals by Eddie Campbell carry it beyond."

 

Bruno Redondo
Artist of DC's Injustice and Nightwing:

V for Vendetta
by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

"This comic was the first that made me break into tears. It showed me how comics can be powerful, filled with emotions and ideas. Comics can change your mind, and V was this for me. Masterful and brave storytelling."

 

Nicola Scott
Artist of DC's Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, and Image Comics' Black Magik:

Watchmen

by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

"Because DUH. Infinitely re-readable."

Sina Grace
Writer of DC's Superman: The Harvest of Youth, Self-Obsessed and Not My Bag:

V for Vendetta

by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
"Look, someone else is gonna say Watchmen, but I find myself revisiting V for Vendetta a lot in my life, and every time the graphic novel slaps harder than ever. It’s so much fun to read Alan Moore buildma political and ever-poignant dystopian narrative from the ground up, and the Guy Fawkes design for V makes for one of the most elegant and startling characters in comics history."

Joe Hill
Co-creator of Locke & Key and author of NOS4A2 and The Black Phone:

From Hell
by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
"If the graphic novel form has a Ulysses, this is it. Watchmen made Moore a legend, but From Hell is better, a knotty, salty, grand Guignol that paints the late 19th century so vividly, reading it is practically the same as time-travel."

Axel Alonso
Former editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and founder and CCO of AWA Studios:

Watchmen
by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
"Easily the most pivotal, influential graphic novel of all time, you see two Maestros of the craft deconstructing the superhero paradigms of the past with an eye fixed firmly on the future."

Mike Deodato, Jr.
Artist of AWA Studios's Bad Mother, The Resistance, Not All Robots, and more:

Watchmen
by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
"My first pick goes to Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, for defining and changing the medium and what comics can achieve. One of the greatest comic books ever made."

The complete article is available HERE.

El Jueves Comics

Cover art by Juanjo Cuerda.

Above, the stunning cover of El Jueves n. 2399 published this June in Spain. This issue is focused on Comic Art.

Cover art by Juanjo Cuerda: you can recognized several Moore-related homages including Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta and Watchmen! Enjoy!

 

El Jueves (Spanish for "Thursday") is a Spanish weekly satirical magazine based in Barcelona. 

Howard, Stephen, Neil and... Alan!

Alan Moore is one of the authors who are present as characters in Le dernier jour de Howard Phillips Lovecraft, an amazing book about HPL written by Romuald Giulivo with stunning art by Jakub Rebelka, published last autumn by French publisher ‎ 404 Editions.

Below you can admire some pages. You can recognize some familiar faces! 

Highly recommended!

Art by Jakub Rebelka; story by Romuald Giulivo